Preview: Islanders at Bruins
Oct 21, 2022THE STORY COMING IN
The Bridgeport Islanders (1-1-0-0) visit Amica Mutual Pavilion for the second straight Friday and open their first “3-in-3” series of the season at 7:05 p.m. against the Providence Bruins (2-0-0-0). Last weekend, the Islanders suffered a 3-1 loss to the Bruins in their season opener but bounced back to beat Springfield, 3-2, on the road Saturday. Forwards Otto Koivula, Ruslan Iskhakov and Chris Terry each scored against the T-Birds, while Cory Schneider (1-0-0) made 20 saves. Bridgeport looks for its first winning streak of the season tonight, which would put the club above .500 on the road for the first time since 2018-19.
LISTEN LIVE: https://bit.ly/BridgeportIslanders
WATCH: AHLTV.com
GAME AT A GLANCE
Tonight’s game is the second of 12 meetings between the Islanders and Bruins this season, and the second of six in Providence. Bridgeport was 3-2-0-1 in Rhode Island during the 2021-22 regular season and both teams scored 19 goals in those games. Jeff Kubiak had the lone tally against Providence last weekend, beating Keith Kinkaid early in the second period. Kinkaid stopped the other 42 shots he saw.
VIEW FROM PROVIDENCE
Head coach Ryan Mougenel’s team is 2-0-0-0 to start the season. The Bruins’ last outing resulted in a 4-3 win against Springfield on Sunday, led by Fabian Lysell (three assists) and Vinni Lettieri (one goal, one assist). Georgii Merkulov, who leads the club with two goals in two games, Josiah Didier and Luke Toporowski also found the back of the net. Toporowski earned the game-winning tally at 18:14 of the second period with his first professional goal at 21-years-old. Kyle Keyser (1-0-0) made 33 saves. The Bruins begin a four-game homestand tonight.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
The Islanders second-round draft pick in 2018, Ruslan Iskhakov, made his North American pro debut in Providence last Friday and scored his first goal on his first shot Saturday in Springfield. The 22-year-old spent each of the last two seasons playing pro in Europe, including 25 games with Adler Mannheim (DEL) in 2021-22 (seven goals, 15 assists). He played two seasons at UConn and recorded 42 points (15 goals, 27 assists) in 64 games between 2018-20.
SHOTS SHOT SHOTS
Bridgeport fired 43 shots at Bruins goaltender Keith Kinkaid last Friday, their most in a regulation loss since Oct. 31, 2021 against Hartford (also against Kinkaid). The Islanders recorded 31 shots on Saturday in Springfield and now share third place in the AHL in shots per game (37.00). The club was 12-10-1-1 when outshooting opponents last season.
TERRY TIME
Veteran sniper Chris Terry led the Islanders with 30 goals last season and it took him barely five periods to find the back of the net in 2022-23. The five-time AHL All-Star scored Saturday’s game-winning goal just 16 seconds into the second period. It was #264 of his AHL career, placing him in sole possession of 33rd place all time. Terry has 10 goals and 16 points in his last 13 games dating back to March 27th.
QUICK HITS
The Islanders are searching for their first power-play goal of the season (0-for-8), while the penalty kill is 10-for-11 through two games... Parker Wotherspoon is expected to play his 269th game with Bridgeport tonight, passing Ben Holmstrom (2015-19) for seventh place on the team’s all-time list... Head coach Brent Thompson is five wins away from #300 in the AHL/with Bridgeport... The Islanders will play just four “3-in-3” series this season.
AFFILIATES
New York Islanders (2-2-0): Last: 4-1 L vs. NJ, last night -- Next: Tomorrow at TB, 7:30 p.m. ET
Worcester Railers (0-0-0-0): Season opens tomorrow vs. ME, 7 p.m. ET